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RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGV #0042/01 0211053
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211052Z JAN 10
FM USMISSION GENEVA
TO RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0017
INFO RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA
RUEHGV/USMISSION USTR GENEVA

UNCLAS GENEVA 000042 
 
SIPDIS 
STATE FOR EEB/IPC, IO/HS, OES 
COMMERCE FOR USPTO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON KIPR WIPO
SUBJECT: WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights: USG 
Takes Lead on Access for People with Print Disabilities 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  The World Intellectual Property Organization 
(WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) 
met in Geneva December 14-18, 2009.  At this 19th session of the 
SCCR, the United States unequivocally called on the international 
copyright community to reach a consensus on copyright exceptions 
for persons with print disabilities.  Such an instrument could take 
the form of a model law, WIPO Joint Recommendation, or multilateral 
treaty.  In a significant shift from its past position, the EU 
supported the U.S. call for the initiation of focused consultations 
aimed at producing a Joint Recommendation.  The SCCR also discussed 
other copyright exceptions and limitations, along with possible 
treaties to protect audiovisual performances and broadcasting 
organizations.  The U.S delegation was led by Senior Advisor to the 
Undersecretary Justin Hughes, USPTO, and included Jean Bonilla 
(State), Michael Shapiro (USPTO), Nancy Weiss (IMLS), and Michelle 
Woods (U.S. Copyright Office). 
 
 
 
Exceptions: General 
 
------------------- 
 
 
 
¶2.  (U) With the strong support of the delegations of Chile, 
Brazil, Egypt, and other developing countries, the SCCR has been 
considering over the last several sessions a broad range of 
exceptions and limitations to the exclusive rights of authors.  To 
facilitate the Committee's discussions in this area, the SCCR has 
commissioned a number of studies, including studies of exceptions 
and limitations in national copyright laws for blind, visually 
impaired persons, libraries and archives, and education.  To 
advance this aspect of its work, the Committee approved the second 
draft of a questionnaire on exceptions and limitations under 
national copyright laws.  At the 19th SCCR, the chairman invited 
delegations to submit comments on or changes to the questionnaire 
to the Secretariat by January 8, 2010.  Based on the responses to 
the questionnaire, the Secretariat will prepare a consolidated 
paper on national copyright exceptions and limitations in advance 
of the 20th session of the SCCR, scheduled for June 21-25, 2010. 
The United States generally supports efforts to share national 
experiences to deepen the Committee's understanding of national 
exceptions and limitations.  USG interventions at the meetings 
focused on reorganizing the questionnaire document to improve 
clarity and the introduction of an option to check "none of the 
above" in answer to some questions. 
 
 
 
Exceptions for Print Disabled Persons 
 
------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶3.  (U) In recent SCCR meetings, attention has focused on the issue 
of enhancing the access persons of persons with print disabilities 
to copyrighted works.  At the 18th session of the SCCR (May 25-29 
2009), the delegations of Brazil, Ecuador, and Paraguay tabled a 
treaty proposal for the benefit of print disabled persons based on 
a text prepared by the World Blind Union (WBU).  The United States 
came to the 19th session of the SCCR prepared to discuss a range of 
options, including but not limited to the WBU proposal, aimed at 
enhancing the accessibility of print disabled persons to 
copyrighted works.  In preparation for the 19th session of the 
SCCR, the U.S. delegation, with leadership from the White House, 
engaged in extensive consultations with constituencies with a 
strong interest in this issue.  Building on an earlier public 
comment process and public roundtable (March-May 2009), preparation 
for this session of the SCCR also included the completion of a 
second round of public comments (October-December 2009), which 
included specific questions on the WBU treaty proposal and an 
informal White House meeting with representatives of organizations 
of the blind and visually-impaired, libraries, and copyright 
industries. 
 
 
 
¶4.  (U) On December 15, Special Advisor Hughes delivered the U.S. 
intervention on copyright exceptions and limitations for persons 
with print disabilities.  Hughes stressed that the United States is 
unequivocally committed to reaching an international consensus on 
copyright exceptions for persons with print disabilities, but 
remains open to discussing and exploring a number of vehicles for 
 
 
achieving such a consensus, including a model law, a WIPO Joint 
Recommendation, or a multilateral treaty.  Of these options, Hughes 
said that, in the view of the United States, the most productive 
course of action may be to initiate "a work program that begins 
with a series of serious, focused consultations aimed at producing 
a carefully-crafted Joint Recommendation of the Berne Assembly and 
the WIPO General Assembly."  The full statement is available on the 
USPTO website at: 
 
 
 
http://www.uspto.gov/ip/global/copyrights/wip o_sccr_19session.pdf 
 
 
 
and on the Copyright Office website at: 
 
 
 
http://www.copyright.gov/docs/sccr/statement/ us-intervention12-15-0 
9.pdf 
 
 
 
In addition to distributing written copies of the intervention, the 
U.S. delegation made available to the NGO representatives present 
at the meeting a CD version of the document, in a blind-accessible 
format, for immediate posting to their websites. 
 
 
 
¶5.  (U) The U.S. intervention was very well-received both by 
foreign government delegations and NGOs.  The significant change in 
position of the EU during the course of the meeting is particularly 
noteworthy.  In its first topical intervention on Tuesday, the EU 
merely restated its general support for the goal of improving 
access for the blind/visually impaired, noting, for example, a few, 
pertinent recent developments at the European level.  However, 
later in the week, after EU Member States consulted with their 
capitals, the EU announced what it characterized as a major change 
in its position.  In particular, following the U.S. lead, the EU 
called for focused consultations aimed at producing such a Joint 
Recommendation, although it stopped short of mentioning the WBU 
treaty proposal. 
 
 
 
¶6.  (U) After extensive negotiations, the U.S. delegation 
successfully inserted a sentence in the Chairman's summary 
conclusion of the meeting that stated that the members of the SCCR 
"accepted the initiation of focused, open-ended consultations in 
Geneva aimed at producing an international consensus regarding 
copyright exceptions and limitations for persons with print 
disabilities." This language captured a key U.S. objective for the 
meeting, i.e., to maintain forward momentum on the issue without 
defining the nature of an implementation instrument. 
 
 
 
 
 
Protection of Audiovisual Performances 
 
-------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶7.  (U) Since the failure of a 2000 WIPO Diplomatic Conference to 
adopt a treaty to protect audiovisual performances (AV Treaty), the 
issue has remained on the agenda of the SCCR.   On the basis of 
WIPO informal consultations in 2009 (including consultations with 
U.S. motion picture studios and audiovisual performers' unions), 
the environment for narrowing the differences on the principal 
outstanding unresolved issue (the transfer of rights from the 
performer to the studio) seemed to be slightly improved. Against 
this background, at the 19th session of the SCCR, the U.S. 
delegation reaffirmed the longstanding support of the United States 
for the adoption of a treaty that would protect audiovisual 
performers.  However, the U.S. delegation also made clear that the 
United States does not support any ambitious timetable for 
reconvening a Diplomatic Conference that would not allow sufficient 
time to complete its consultations with domestic stakeholders. 
 
 
¶8.  (U) In advance of the December meeting, the WIPO Secretariat 
had circulated a draft recommendation calling for the convening of 
an extraordinary session of the WIPO General Assembly from March 
15-16, 2010 for the purpose of the purpose of convening an AV 
Treaty Diplomatic Conference under a specific, limited mandate. 
The draft recommendation failed to attract support within the SCCR. 
Nonetheless, the SCCR expressed its interest in finding a less 
ambitious way forward; in particular, the SCCR requested the 
Secretariat to conduct "open-ended consultations" in Geneva on the 
AV Treaty. The SCCR also noted that the nineteen articles, on which 
provisional agreement was reached at the 2000 Diplomatic 
Conference, provided a "good basis" for future negotiations on the 
treaty.  At the 20th session in June 2010,  the SCCR will "consider 
the next steps and evaluate if there is consensus on a possible 
recommendation to the General Assembly of WIPO to convene a 
diplomatic conference." 
 
 
 
 
 
Protection for Broadcasting Organizations 
 
----------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶9.  (U) In its intervention on December 17, the U.S. delegation 
restated the longstanding support of the United States for an 
update of the 1961 Rome Convention, which provides protection for 
broadcasting organizations (such as traditional radio and TV 
stations).  The U.S. delegation stressed that any modern treaty 
should provide for protection of broadcast signals from piracy and 
must extend protection on a platform-neutral basis, extending 
protection for broadcasting, cablecasting, and webcasting 
organizations alike. The U.S. delegation opposed any relaxation of 
the 2006 WIPO General Assembly mandate that obligates SCCR members 
to reach an agreement on the objectives, scope, and object of 
protection in a signal-based approach before a Diplomatic 
Conference can be convened to negotiate a treaty for the protection 
of broadcasting organizations. 
 
 
 
¶10.  (U) There is strong support among the Europeans and the 
Japanese to conclude a treaty for the benefit of broadcasting 
organizations, but the SCCR remains deeply divided on fundamental 
issues under the 2006 mandate.  At the December session, the 
committee reaffirmed its commitment to continue work on the 
proposed treaty.  However, in the Chairman's summary the Committee 
could only agree to request the Secretariat to "organize regional 
seminars upon requests from Member States to ascertain views on the 
objectives, specific scope and object of protection of a possible 
draft treaty following a signal-based approach." 
 
 
 
¶11.  (U) The meeting was chaired by Jukka Liedes of Finland's 
Ministry of Education.  The Chairman's summary is available on the 
WIPO website at: 
 
 
http://www.wipo.int/edocs/mdocs/copyright/en/ sccr_19/sccr_19_conclu 
sions.pdf 
 
 
 
¶12.  (U) This report has been cleared by the Washington SCCR 
delegation. 
RICHTER